Someone's passed out
The Agentinian Jared is pouring champagn to celebrate Christmas
Alice and Sha

Christmas day at Felipe's house
Sha getting his hair cut
Alice pimpin in an XXXL jersey

Christmas day at the Hilton
The deck at the Hilton

Our hostel Christmas tree

In the living room, everyone's getting ready for Christmas parties

A Very Un-Christmas Christmas

In Argentina, Christmas is mainly celebrated on the night of the 24th, not the 25th (though the 25th is still a holiday). We were invited to dinner at our friend Felipe's house on the 24th. We had a wonderful dinner with his parents, who are the nicest people in the world. We ate Asado (BBQ'd meats), which is the tradition here (no Turkey for us!) and then for dessert we had Turron (which is nougat with nuts and jellied fruits in it) and Pan Dulce (sweet bread with fruits in it). Everything was delicious. At midnight, we drank champagne and went up to the roof of his building to watch the fireworks that had just started. We could see lots of people setting them off from the middle of the road, and from about 12:05 onward, all we could hear were the sounds of sirens, as the paramedics rushed to rescue people who had blown off a finger or an eye. Then some of Felipe's friends came over. We were supposed to go to a club (that is also the tradition), but we were so tried from all the food and drink that we came home. There was a party going on at the hostel when we arrived, which we joined for a few minutes before falling into bed from exhaustion!

On the 25th, we had lunch at a cafe with some people from Toronto who are visiting Buenos Aires. Then we went and met Sha at the Hilton. Christmas day was absolutely gorgeous: 30 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. So we chilled by the pool for a few hours, before we played some pool in the lounge (and met this crazy lady from NYC who took our picture... and made us take her picture while she pretended to play pool...). Then we watched the movie "Napoleon Dynamite" and went for ice cream!!! It was certianly far from a traditional Canadian Christmas, with snow, carols and sitting by the fire, but we had a lot of fun (Tova raves it was "the best Christmas ever" and even "one of the best days of her life" hahaha... ok there).

Since then we have been relaxing, enjoying the wonderful weather (though it is a little hard to sleep at night when it is over 30 degrees and you have no fan or air conditioner) and hanging out with friends. Last night we went out to a pool hall with Sha and kicked his butt (we are getting really good now.... so watch out when we get back!!) Oh, and we just found out today that four rooms in our hostel (including ours) are going to be demolished in about two weeks to create a clothing store, so we are going to have to move everything to a new room!!!! We are also trying desperately to find a restaurant to have dinner in on New Years Eve (the day Tova's mom and brother arrive), but it is next to impossible, which we TOTALLY didn't expect!!!

We hope that all of your holidays were as much fun as ours, and that you all have an exciting and safe New Years!!!

love

Alice and Tova

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Happy Holidays
This big hand coming out of the sand
Our room (which we shared with 4 other people)

Tova in the waves
Alice and her burn!
Just relaxin' on the beach

Picture taken from inside our Hostel in Punta del Este

The beach in Punta del Este

A store in Buenos Aires....named after ME!!!

Punta del Este

So, it is officially summer here! Yup, the 22nd of December, and it certainly doesn't feel like the holiday season. In fact, we just returned from a relaxing weekend at the beach in Punta del Este, Uruguay. We took the boat over the river and then a four hour bus ride to get there, but it was well worth it. The beaches are gorgeous, with huge waves, lots of sun and (as we went just before the tourist season) not too many people.

We were lucky we even got there at all, as we almost missed our boat (again... does any of this ring a bell from the last time we went to Uruguay??)!!! We set our alarm for 6:30 the night before, but we must have slept through it or turned it off by accident (we were up until 3 a.m. watching an incredible episode of Law and Order). Thank God Tova woke up at 7:15!!! We rushed to finish packing (Alice only forgot two things!!!) and got to the boat just in time.

We stayed in a really nice hostel in Punta del Este, which was just pure luck considering we booked it about 3 days before through the internet, and it was pretty much the first hostel that came up with Google. It was 2 minute walk from the beach and had an amazing view!!! To save money, we stayed in a six-person dorm. It actually worked out really well, as we met a lot of people (who luckily were not creepy or weird or thieves...). The first two nights we roomed with four girls from Ireland who are making a trip around the world. They were really friendly and let us read their English gossip magazines.... we had no idea so much had happened in Hollywood while we were gone!!! And the last two nights we were with a Mexican guy and three people from France. One of the French ladies was kind of crazy and talked our ears off (which is hard when you just want to sleep). AND she snored like a bear!!!

The only probelms we had were:
1. The fact that Uruguay in general, but especially ultra-tourist Punta, is expensive compared with Argentina. And all the prices look even higher because the pesos are on totally different scales. For example, in Argentina, a McDonalds combo is about 7 pesos, but in Punta it was 120 pesos (but there is only one or two Canadian dollar difference between the prices)!!! And the funniest thing is the peso sign here is just a dollar sign, so it looks ridiculous to see it on the McDonalds menu... $40 for an ice cream!! Hahaha. We would have taken a picture of the menu if it wouldn't have made us look like total weirdos. But seriously some of the things they were selling there were CRAZILY priced. For eample, one store was selling a Vogue magazine for 900 pesos. That is about 50 dollars Canadian!!!!
2. On several nights, there was drag racing outside our window, which was really, really loud!!!

But the weather was amazing, we went to the beach every day and got amazing tans... don't worry, that burn on Alice's back turned into a gorgeous, dark brown tan with no tan lines!!! Hahaha. We arrived back late last night and are now just finalizing our plans for Christmas with friends. Tova's mother and brother, Veronique and Ben, are coming to Buenos Aires in just over a week, and we are awaiting their arrival with much excitement.

Merry Christmas and happy Hannukah to all at home, we can assure you that the beautiful weather here is only a small consolation for the fact that we are missing all our friends and family like crazy right now. All our love to you all.

Alice and Tova

Also, on Sunday night we went out to this free concert of "BajoFondo" a really popular band that mixes tango, techno and rap. It was incredible music and the venue was beautiful. We went with this American girl who has been studying at the University in Chile and is visiting Buenos Aires for a few days. But she leaves for the States tommorow...

At a concert with a band called Bajofondo
Breakdancing at Opera Bay

Drinking Moët!!!

In the car going to Opera Bay (a huge Club in Buenos Aires)
THE HILTON!!!!

Chiquito fully foamed
Chiquito, Tova, Alice and Sha

FOAM FIGHT
Chiquito's Birthday Party
Alice covered in foam

Almost Christmas...

This weekend was a lot of fun!! We got our marks from the University and we both did really well (too bad this doesn't count for a credit at UofT!!). On Friday night we went to our friend, Santiago's birthday party. He had it at a small club and our friend was the DJ (the amazing thing about your friend DJing is you can request all the songs you want). At one point we all sang "Happy Birthday" to Santiago. Once we had finished, this giant foam fight came out of nowhere. It was crazy, half the people in the room just whipped out these cans of foam (it was harmless stuff) and just started spraying all over the room. We were covered in foam, but got some really amazing pictures!!

That night we met "Shaw", a guy from NYC who has been living in Buenos Aires for almost two years working for an American company here. Get this... he LIVES in the Hilton Hotel!! His company pays for it... and he has been living there for over a year!!! We went out for pizza with him after the party and then we all went shopping the next day. We went to the Hilton to pick him up, and it was like a fantasy: a pianist playing in the lobby, the biggest and most beautiful Christmas Tree we have ever seen, and tons of people waiting on you hand and foot!!

Saturday night we went out to Opera Bay, this really amazing club on the waterfront that looks like the Sydney Opera House. To celebrate Santiago's birthday, Shaw bought a bottle of Moët for the four of us. It literally cost as much as our rent for a month!!!! We got to sit in the VIP area that is usually reserved for the owner! We danced until about 5:30 when we decided we were just too tired and went home to the sunrise. On Sunday we suntanned all afternoon at the park, as the weather is absolutely perfect right now.

On a really disgusting note, Tova almost ate a dead cockroach... She made some chocolate milk and as she was drinking it, she felt something in her mouth. She pulled it out and it was a dead cockroach!!! But she just threw it out and kept on drinking!!!

So that kind of sums up our week.. we went from eating dead cockroaches to drinking Moet!!!

Alice and Tova

Another dude from Cali
Alice, Cali (he's from California so we call him Cali) and Tova
Tova, Alice, and Noam (our friend who is a DJ)

Catupeku Machu

Alice, Lucas and Tova at the Catupeku Machu concert

Alice, Tova and Mati at the Catupeku Machu concert at Much Music
The mothers at the Good Charlotte concert!!!!
Catupeku Machu

Good Charlotte at Much Music in Buenos Aires

Finally...A New Entry

Okay, here it is for all of you who have been asking us over and over when the next entry is coming (....Melina!!). I will begin with last Monday evening, when we went out for dinner with Kathy, Tova's mother's friend who was visiting Buenos Aires. We chatted about Argentina and everything we had missed in Toronto in the three-and-a-half months we have been gone, which was really nice.

On Thursday we went to the Good Charlotte (they are a popular American rock band) concert/interview at the Much Music building in Buenos Aires (yes, they have their own version of Much Music here!). The reason we went was because of a connection we made about a month ago with Lucas, a man who works for the station. We met him while he was covering the Canadian section of the short dance film festival that we attended. He emailed us to offer us places on the guest list and we accepted the opportunity. First of all, we were 45 minutes late for the concert because we didn't realize how long it would take to get there!! It literally took us an hour and a half by bus, which is about ten times as long as we have ever been on any bus in this city. It was way out in what I suppose you would call the suburbs of Buenos Aires (though here, they are far from the wealthy, manicured suburbs of Canada... it actually gets more rundown and, in some areas, dangerous, as you leave the inner city). It should only really have taken us an hour to get there, but as we were about to cross the train tracks, a train came along. After it had left, the bars that come down to stop traffic from crossing never rose, and everyone was stuck for about half-an-hour. It was ridiculous..... We had to listen to half-an-hour straight of nonstop honking from about 50 cars...as if honking would have made any difference to the situation since we couldn't move!!! And, at one point, cars, buses and even huge trucks decided to manouver around the bars, which just caused more confusion and chaos!! And motorcyclists started riding on the sidewalk to get around the traffic and people waking on the sidewalks neary had a fit... one man actually did have a fit!!! But we eventually got to the concert safe and sound!!! It was a small venue, but the fans were absolutely crazy!!! They knew ALL the words, even though they were in English, and they were all screaming, pushing and crying. Tova and I sat at the back near to the mothers who were waiting for the show to end so that they could take the children home. Seriosly, most of these fans were between the ages of twelve and fifteen... we felt just a little old. And, perhap the funniest part were the signs that these girls were holding up for the band to see: "We LOVES Joel!" and "MARRIED me Billy". Hahahaha... We really wanted to help them out with those!!!

The bus trip back from the concert is another story altogether.... When we got on the bus it was nearly empty, and the driver asked us where we were from as soon as he heard our accents (you have to tell the driver when you get onto the bus how far you are going so he can punch in the correct amount into the machine that you insert your money into... very different system). We said we were from Canada and basicaly he didn't stop talking from there on, and he wouldn't let us pay for the bus!!! In the hour or so that it took to get back home he told us about his travels all around the world, and how he can speak Chinese (but he can't speak English...) At one point he actually stopped the bus and opened the door when he saw some random Chinese guy standing on the street, just so he could speak to him in Chinese for us!!! And the guy wasn't even waiting for a bus!!! On top of that, the driver nearly crashed the bus about three times because he wasn't looking forward at the road, but kept turing back to talk to us. And we only understood about half of what he was saying because he was speaking so fast and rather quietly, and because half the time he was facing away from us, driving. Other people on the bus were pretty mad at us becuse it was the slowest bus ride EVER!!!

That night we went back to Club Araoz, where we get our weekely dose of hip hop. We are becoming friends with some of the DJs and organizers there, wich is really exciting. We met this really cool guy, Santiago. He's from Puerto Rico and he organizes many of the hip hop and reggaeton events here. We are gong to his birthday party at a club tommorow night, which we are really looking forward to!!

On a rather sad note, Luz, a good friend of ours, moved out of the hostel this week, but we will be staying in contact with her until she leaves for Australia for a year this January. Also, our friend Bjorn from Sweden, who was one of our first friends we made here, went back home a few das ago!!

To continue... On Friday night we went out to see a Bosa Nova band at a bar with some friends and on Saturday we went to Tigre, a small town just outside of Buenos Aires with our friend Mati (who we met through Hilel and spent Rosh Hashana with a few months ago). Tigre is about a thirty-minute train ride outside of Buenos Aires... but it is right on the river and is kind of the country spot, like Wasaga or the Hamptons, for wealthy Porteños (people who live in BA). We weren't sure what we were going to do there for the day, but Mati had a plan. We ended up going to this Jewish country club that his friends are all part of. Let me tell you this country club was INCREDIBLE. There were tons of tennis courts, swimming pools, rowboats, kayaks, a gymnasium and more!!! It is such a contrast from the poverty of most of Buenos Aires. Basically all the youths of the club were having a party/gathering out on an island that the country club owns, which is about 20 minutes ride by rowboat down the river. The island was gorgeous with a playground, manicured lawns, a beach, a soccer field, immaculate bathrooms with toilet paper (really something we cherish here) and a huge barbeque, where we cooked burgers for lunch. After lunch we started to play some games, but the sky got realy dark and it started to POUR!!! And it didn't stop for hours. The guys were all playing a football game and didn't want to stop and the girls were just trying to stay dry... but it was just too wet and we all got soaked from head to toe. Several hours later we had to come back by rowboat in the pouring rain (it never let up) with garbage bags over us... it was a pretty funny sight!! We eventually made it back to our hostel and dried off before meeting our friend Lucia to see the movie "Everything is Illuminated", which was really good (Lucia cried) and we would recommend it to everyone!!

On Sunday we went down to "Puerto Madero", the port of Buenos Aires, where you can walk along the boardwalk and go into galleries and see art exhibits, which was nice. And on Monday we went to the Canadian Embassy to let them know that we are in the country.... finally!! It was funny, you sign your name, and other info in a book to let the Canadian Government know you are here. We noticed when we signed it that almost everyone who had signed were just staying in Argentina for a week or even a few days, yet had still let the Embassy know they were here... and we have already been here for over three months and said nothing!!! Ooops!! We also registered to vote for the upcoming January election at home, and let me say to eveyone reading this, if WE are voting all the way from Buenos Aires, you all had better be voting when all YOU have to do is walk down the street!!

In the evening we watched "Law and Order" on TV for the first time since we got here, which was a pretty momumental event for us, seeing as we are the biggest fans possibly in the world, of the show!!! And, what's even more exciting is that we will be getting a TV to put in our room from the owner of our hostel tommorow... which means even more "Law and Order"!! We cant wait!!!

Yesterday we had our Spanish exams at the University of Buenos Aires. We had to do an oral and a written exam, but both went really well.... we get our marks back tomorrow. Also, we went back to the Much Music building to see the concert of "Catupeku Machu", a realy popular Argentinian rock band. We invited our friend Mati to come along, as he is a huge fan, and it really was a lot of fun. We liked the music, and Mati is going to burn us a CD to listen to. It looks like we are going to be seeing a lot of concerts thanks to Lucas!!!

Well, that is it for now. It has been quite a week I guess. Love to you all.

Alice and Tova